Oh, More Fun!

For the last two weeks I have occasionally been getting a pain in my thigh. It almost felt like a pulled muscle. It would be really painful when I first woke up, but would eventually stop hurting. Last week this reddish, painful to the touch line appeared, but I just thought I had bruised it by rubbing. At my monthly OB appointment yesterday I mentioned it to the doctor. Right away she thought I had a superficial blood clot. Great! I went for an ultrasound, and yes, I have a superficial blood clot. It's not completely occluding the vein and they didn't see anything in the deeper veins, so that is good. The concern is that the clot could break off and travel to the deep vein and into to my lungs, I'm more susceptible to other clots because I'm pregnant and I'm pretty far along. This is all not good. My OB consulted with another OB in the practice and they agreed to treat me with anti-coagulants. She said some would argue against it, but they think it is best for me and baby. After I found out what treatment entailed I would have liked to argue against it, but I have to think about my baby girl. For the next 6 weeks I get to inject myself twice a day in the stomach. Yeah! After that they will switch me to another also inject-able medicine (Heparin) that wears off faster and can be counteracted better should I go into labor. If I haven't delivered naturally by 39 weeks they will induce. Then after deliver I will have another 6 weeks of treatment, but hopefully only once a day. I guess by then I'll be a professional and be too tired to really care that I'm sticking myself in the stomach with a needle.

If you look on the bright side, there is the fact that I now only have 9ish weeks left instead of 10 or even more. If I make it to that point I also won't have to worry about my water breaking in some embarrassing situation or a lot of contractions before I get an epidural. The cons of course are that I'm now on blood thinners. Luckily I will be delivering at a hospital with a level 3b NICU (3c is the highest, and Hopkins doesn't even have that) so I feel confident everything will be just fine. I can't say I'm not even more scared now about this whole birth process since as I write this I'm not holding back any tears, but she's got to come out so I don't really have a choice.

On another positive note I get to have another ultrasound of the baby because of my thyroid issues. There is nothing suspect, they just want to check her growth because thyroid level problems can cause growth issues with the baby. I've been very closely monitored throughout the pregnancy so I'm just looking at this as a happy (insurance paid) excuse to see her again. It won't be for another 2 weeks or so, but I'll be sure to post pictures.

Well, that's my story for now. The last 6 months have definitely been an adventure. Now we just have to get through the next 2 months so the real fun can begin!